Vickey Lalwani

Ismail Merchant eyes Bollywood

Ismail Merchant, whose collaboration with James Ivory has made them the longest surviving independent producers (46 films in 42 years), has now fixed his sights firmly on the Hindi film industry.

Merchant will start work on a Bollywood musical as soon as he wraps up Le Divorce, starring Kate Hudson [Almost Famous], Naomi Watts [Mulholland Drive, The Ring] and Glenn Close [Fatal Attraction].

Asha's class act

Asha Bhosle recently sang Rang raliyan karat hai sautan ke sang in Raga Malkauns for Khwaish -- The Desire. Composed by Milind Sagar, the album has six songs, including three duets with Udit Narayan and one with K K.

Directed by Govind Menon, who helmed the Tara Deshpande-Jas Arora starrer Danger, Khwaish  is an erotic love story of two youngsters played by Tum Bin's Himanshu Malik and starlet Mallika.

Ayesha's second coming

After making an impressive start in hits like Qurbaan, Khiladi and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Ayesha Jhulka disappeared into oblivion.

She resurfaced with women-oriented subjects like Sunil Bhatt's Amma. The actress now is working on Sudeep Mukherji's Karvat -- The Turn, opposite Sanjay Kapoor. Produced by Bela Ganguly and Kamlesh Parmar, Karvat also stars Om Puri and Shweta Menon.

Market gets hot and sultry

Director Prakash Shaw picturised a sexy dance number featuring Manisha Koirala, Aryan Vaid, Suman Ranganathan, Shweta Menon and Govind Namdeo for Market.

Under the supervision of choreographer Raju Khan, the actors gyrated on a set erected at Hotel Horizon, Juhu, northwest Mumbai.

Market is based the life and struggles of sex workers.